This started strong but ultimately was just okay for me. I thought the FMC was insufferable and ungrateful. All of these people, mostly strangers, were doing such nice things for her and she barely showed gratitude. I also thought some of the prosopagnosia stuff was far fetched. I know its a real thing but there are other factors you can use to describe/sense someone and it felt like they wanted the reader to be completely stupid to believe she couldnt detect anyone, especially her love interests. It was well written as most KC books are it just wasnt my fav.

Katherine Center took a medical condition I never heard of and weaved it into such a unique love story. I love authors who teach me something new and give me a wonderful romance full of anticipation, longing and a beautiful happily-ever-after.

Prosopagnosia or face blindness is a condition that effects over 150 million people, she shared.
I honestly spent the first part of Hello Stranger just thinking about what it would be like to acquire their condition like Sadie.

It has to be so surreal but to someone who paints portraits for a living- devasting.

And yet, I loved how “looks” to a point (because she does deduce that Oliver and Joe are quite handsome) are taken out of the equation when it came to her falling for the vet and her neighbor.

I knew where the love story was headed between the “two” men she was falling for and I loved it.
I didn’t rate this 5 stars only because some things didn’t line up for me when it came to her knowing these men.

Like she recognized Parker from her scent and Oliver had a distinct scent so wouldn’t that trigger something for her the next time she was in his presence?

Granted, the last chapter answered some of my hang-ups and they didn’t keep me from enjoying the story.
I also had a hard time not asking questions like:
-Why didn’t she get a second opinion or why didn’t she learn more about the surgery?
- Why did she just let her Dad bully her into it when so much was at stake?

But alas, that’s where my mind goes with health stuff.

While Joe had an interesting back story, this book was all about Sadie for me and her strength in addressing these changes in her life.

I would have liked to have had the found family aspect with the Kims flushed out more and had Parker really get what’s coming to her because she was the WORST!

But overall, I was enamored with this unique storyline and stayed up all night to finish it.

I enjoyed it and can’t wait for more from Center.

*Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Loved this charming, romantic and completely absorbing women's fiction title. Katherine does a great job with pacing from start to finish. I'm a huge fan and this one may be my fave of hers.

This book was a journey. It introduced me to a condition that I've never heard about before like at all. It almost seemed made up but it's very real. Heck, even Brad Pitt has it. It's called Prosopagnosia (face blindness). It's the part of your brain that can recognize faces. It's either you've had it since birth or it's acquired, like you've been conditioned with it because of a complication in that part of your brain or like in our heroine, Sadie's, case, an affect from a brain surgery. What I like about this book is how you're almost just as frustrated with... everything about Sadie's life just like her. To the point that you can't really blame her for how she's acting and all her emotions. If I were her, I would be more of a mess than her like I honestly don't think I would've done as well in that six weeks as she did. Good for her. I also love how this is such an invisible string moment for Sadie and Joe. All's well that ends well, right? I've read in the Author's Note how this is one of the first attempts of Katherine Center at the romance genre. Not bad. Could've been better as a romance novel but it's there you know? I can't wait to see her grow in the romance genre.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars, rounded up. I initially found the main character to be a bit grating and self-centered, but she grew on me (as did the book!) Thanks to Netgalley and St. Marten's Press for the ARC.

After being saved from almost being hit by a bus, Sadie finds out she has a rare neurological condition called Prosopagnosia which causes face blindness. Imagine suddenly not being able to recognize faces AND you’re also a portrait artist. As Sadie tries to navigate her new (hopefully temporary) reality, she’s also faced with family drama, her own dog’s illness, a new love interest AND figuring out how to manage a huge career competition in which she’s a finalist.

As always, Katherine delivers a funny, heartwarming, light story with noteworthy significance. Her main characters are so well-developed and not only witty but also relatable. Even with a dysfunctional (and downright mean) step-family, Sadie manages to RISE ABOVE and I almost screamed in excitement when she finally found her voice and spoke her truth! The love triangle added to the swoony, even if unlikely, romance. I was not expecting the final reveal/twist so that whole bit just solidified my love for this story!

The audiobook narration was great! I will say I deducted half a star because sometimes it was easy to get distracted while listening, especially when her immature, evil step sister stepped in.

But overall, I LOVED the message and Sadie’s growth through her challenges! The medical/nurse nerd in me appreciates the research that went into her brain condition and how it was effectively written into the story. 👏🏽

4.5 ⭐️ rounded up

After loving the Bodyguard, I knew I wanted to give Katherine Center's newest book a try and I was very excited to get my hands on an ARC. I thought Hello, Stranger was an interesting romance. It read more like a contemporary fiction with a sideline of romance. It spent a lot of time on the main character's recent face blindness diagnosis which was interesting, but the face blindness thing seems to be overdone in recent new releases. I thought the romance was cute and fun, although a little predictable (but that's what we love about romances, right?) Overall, it was a quick and easy read.

This is my first of Katherine Center books in awhile. I read things you save in a fire a long time ago. It was a nice easy read. I enjoyed it. I kind of predicted what would happen so that’s why it didn’t rate higher but a cute easy read that I really enjoyed. :). Can’t wait to read more of her books! Thanks Netgalley for the ARC!

Other than a few grammatical errors in the book, it was a fantastic read. I really enjoyed it. The characters are wonderful and the storyline kept me intrigued. And the twists and turns? Perfection.

Wow, just… wow. I had such high expectations for Hello Stranger, after the brilliance of The Bodyguard (still one of my favorite books)… and not only did Hello Stranger deliver on my high expectations, it totally surpassed. The characters are nuanced and are so vibrant, complex, and well-developed they practically jump off the page. The storyline - in which Sadie, a portrait artist, develops face-blindness after an accident - is unique and thoughtful. We learn about characters through their personalities, not their looks, as she experiences meeting and further getting to know new people, including two love interests. Honestly, I tore through this book in less than a day, I could not stop flipping pages because I just couldn’t get enough of these characters. Probably one of my favorite ever books now.

An enjoyable read about Sadie Montgomery who just finaled in a portrait painting contest only to have a nonconvulsive seizure, causing her to need brain surgery. A result from the surgery is swelling in part of the brain that causes Prosopagnosia, aka face blindness. This is not good when she needs to be able to paint a portrait in weeks!

To top that off, her dress that she was wearing the night of the accident has been trashed, her beloved fourteen-year-old dog gets sick, and her evil (truly evil) stepsister, Parker, moves into her apartment building and won't stop messing with her. Seems like too much too handle for one person.

Sadie meets the veterinarian, Dr. Oliver Addison, and soon has visions of marrying him. Then, there's Joe from her building. Soon, she is spending a lot of time with him. What's a girl to do? It's a love triangle in the making, sort of. I loved Joe's character. He is super sweet and truly "Helpful."

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for an advanced readers copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Hello Stranger is the perfect summer read. Sadie is a talented artist who has a medical emergency and must have brain surgery. When she wakes up, she discovers that she can no longer see a persons face, including her own.

Kathleen Center did a beautiful job creating a story that was funny, loving and also heartbreaking at times. The story is fast paced and easy to enjoy. This book just makes me love Center even more.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for their generous ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

4.5- I was a little wary to read this because while I liked the last book I read by Katherine Center the ending ruined it for me. I decided to give this one a try and I’m so happy I did!
Sadie Montgomery is a portrait artist. It doesn’t bring in much money, but she loves painting and it makes her feel closer to her late mother so she’s pretty happy- despite the fact that she isn’t close with her father, she hates her stepmother, and she has a genuine wicked stepsister. After a near miss with a car, she ends up needing surgery that leaves her with facial blindness, pretty catastrophic for a portrait artist. During this time she falls for 2 different men and needs to figure out how to go on working and living in a world that makes no sense.
I loved every bit of this book. All of the characters are so well developed and Ms. Center created fantastic anticipation with the love story aspect. Watching Sadie learn who she is as both a person and an artist while missing this pivotal part of our senses (she can see, but faces look like a separate pieces instead of a cohesive whole) was truly a joy.
Strangely, I’ve read a bunch of books with characters who have prosopagnosia and this is the first that describes what a sufferer sees in a way that my brain could imagine. The amount of research Ms. Center did on both this and portrait artistry is truly commendable. I’ll definitely be checking out more of Ms. Center’s works. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of this. This gem hits the shelves on July 11th.

Ok, I enjoyed the writing. I was hesitantly vibing with this book until a pivotal scene between Sadie and one of her love interests. It’s a moment that I didn’t want to happen but I kind of knew it would and would require you to ignore a lot of questions that come up while reading. Questions such as “If you live in a tiny hovel of an apartment, where do you hide your dog?” “Is Joe a trust fund baby because he has a bougie apartment and always seems to be home?” “Sadie, you’re falling in love with someone but never take the time to get to know them?” There are so many more questions but I’ll be falling into spoiler territory if I keep going. There were quite a few plot choices that could have gone in another direction that would have made this story a bit more plausible. Anyway, if you’re the type of person who can easily see that the math isn’t math-ing then you may not get on with this book. If you can ignore the questions popping into your head, then you can happily fall into this sweet romance.

Absolutely loved this! Katherine Center writes the perfect “pick me up” books and “Hello Stranger” was exactly what I needed to get myself out of my reading slump. The romance was really well written & I loved all of the side characters.

I received a digital ARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Katherine Center’s books make me happy - Hello Stranger; is no different. The characters are relatable. I felt like Sadie was a friend. I laughed, and cheered, and felt anger along with her on her journey.

after a brain surgery to fix a deadly cavernoma, sadie is diagnosed with acquired apperceptive prosopagnosia, aka face blindness. it’s supposed to be temporary, but with an important art show coming up—for which sadie has to draw a portrait—she starts to get nervous. meanwhile, she’s started falling for both her dog’s veterinarian and for her neighbor, even though this is the complete wrong time for romance.

i enjoyed the bodyguard when i read that last year, so i was very excited to hear that there would be another katherine center book releasing this year!

it was a little bit frustrating that sadie wouldn’t be honest about her condition with almost anybody, but i also understand why she didn’t want to share, especially since she thought it’d clear up super quickly at first. i have no idea what it’s like to have prosopagnosia, but i thought it was interesting how this was portrayed in sadie. she was able to piece together who she was talking to sometimes, but other times had no clue at all. additionally, she tried so many different techniques for her art, and reading about her continuously trying and still not getting it made me frustrated on her behalf.

i really enjoyed the romances present. one is much more prevalent than the other, but it was still so interesting to see both of them play out. i loved how the main romance developed!

Prepare to be captivated by this delightful book that had me completely enthralled! Sadie Montgomery, a talented portrait artist, basks in the joy of being a top ten finalist in a prestigious art competition. However, her world takes an unexpected turn when she discovers the need for brain surgery due to neurological issues.

As someone who has undergone testing for my own neurological concerns, I appreciate the author's portrayal of Sadie's fears and anxieties. Although I felt that her emotions may have been slightly understated, as someone who has experienced the genuine terror associated with such situations, I can assure you it's an incredibly daunting experience.

Despite the successful surgery, Sadie is left with facial blindness, which her doctor assures her may be temporary. This revelation strikes horror in the heart of a portrait artist, and the story takes an anticipated yet thoroughly enjoyable path as Sadie navigates her romantic interests: the endearing veterinarian for her adorable (in her opinion) dog, and Joe from her apartment building.

While the plot may seem predictable, it does nothing to diminish the sheer fun and enjoyment of this book. It offers a delightful blend of sweetness and amusement, making it a truly engaging and heartwarming read.

2.5/5 I just didn't click with this one. I didn't believe that Sadie who had face blindness would not be able to tell a person by their voice. I didn't believe that your step sister's antics would haunt you into adulthood without her ever being held responsible for her wrongdoings. This is quirky like What You Wish For and I didn't click with that book either.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Steam Level: 🔥 (kissing only)
Trigger Warning: death of a parent recounted; brief mentions of seizure, cheating recounted, divorce, attempted suicide (side character)

After years of being a starving artist, Sadie Montgomery has just learned that she's a finalist in a portrait contest that has a prize of $10,000. But on her way home to celebrate, she was ends up having a seizure that leads to brain surgery and a side effect called prosopagnosia- face blindness. Now she can't see faces clearly, much less paint them for her final submission into the portrait contest. As she tries to figure out how to move forward, she befriends Joe- a man in her building who is eager to help her out. Joe helps Sadie realize that she's not the only one whose life is a mess, and she begins to feel a deep connection with him. Will Sadie find a way to complete her portrait and also find love with a faceless stranger?

Okay, I loved this so much! I finished this in one day because I just couldn't put it down. The writing just flowed so well and the story kept me engaged with its unique premise. I really liked Sadie and wanted to see her get a happy ending after everything she'd been through in life. This book had me cracking up in some spots and teary-eyed in others. I'm such a sucker for emotional books in which the characters overcome grief and loneliness. There was a lot of growth Sadie had to go through, and I was happy to see many things resolved by the end of her story. Joe was also a delight, but I won't say much to avoid spoilers 😉 While I was able to predict the plot twist, it never took away from my anticipation of how everything would be worked out in the end. (If you've read the author's note, you'll probably appreciate my word choice there!) I honestly was on pins and needles waiting for Sadie to connect the dots, and I was not disappointed with the conflict resolution. This book easily puts Katherine Center on my auto-buy author list!

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.